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Amazon launches first debit card in Mexico e-commerce push

March 14, 2018

Amazon.com Inc launched its first-ever debit card on Tuesday in Mexico, part of a push to encourage shoppers without bank accounts to buy online.

ReutersInternet retailers and brick-and-mortar chains in Mexico are investing heavily in e-commerce as the sector gains in popularity, although it is still a small fraction of total retail sales.Part of the challenge is attracting consumers who are wary of online fraud and do not have access to credit and debit cards. Less than a third of adults in Mexico have credit cards, according to a 2017 government report.

Amazon said that Mexico was the first country where it has offered a debit card, called Amazon Rechargeable, aiming to give customers a new method to shop on its website.

“Clients that don’t have a credit or debit card will find Amazon Rechargeable an easy and practical way to convert cash into a payment method,” said Fernando Ramirez, Amazon’s product manager in Mexico, in a statement.

Easy-access debit cards could help pull people into the formal economy, especially if tied to shopping promotions, Actinver analyst Carlos Hermosillo Bernal said.

“How do you bring formality to the informal sector? You have to make a bridge,” he said.

Four weeks of anti-government protests that have hit French brick-and-mortar retailers are also taking their toll on online peers during the crucial Christmas shopping season, said France's e-commerce federation, Fevad.